Fifty miles northwest of Santa Barbara, California, on a steep, south-facing cliff, a short few miles from the Pacific Ocean, Mail Road meets its end at the geographic center of The Sta. Rita Hills AVA, the historic and iconic Mt. Carmel Vineyard. Established in 1989 – on land surrounding a long since abandoned monastery of cloistered, Carmelite nuns – Mt. Carmel straddles the limestone saddle of a highly-exposed, two-tiered mountain immediately north of the Santa Ynez River, at the eastern end of The Sta. Rita Hills.
Mt. Carmel consists of six blocks over a total of 22.5 acres, planted to a variety of own-rooted, organically and principally dry-farmed, heritage chardonnay and pinot noir clones. The vineyard is heavily and uniquely influenced by its combination of elevation (800-1000 feet above sea level) and soil composition (loose, well-drained limestone, botella clay, diatomaceous earth, calcareous deposits and sandy loam).The wines produced by Mt. Carmel fruit are remarkable in their lean toward site specifically and marked by deep concentration, exceptional depth
